HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS — BEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE 



33 



niitted by contact and particularly respiratory 

 and pidmonary infections. Although data are 

 lacking, a high incidence of tuberculosis is sus- 

 ■ pected. There seems little to choose between 

 various house types for health. 



COMPARATIVE DATA 



Most Sierra towns, on superficial acquaintance, 

 seem to have similar conditions. Local varia- 

 tions, of course, occur as the result of differences in 

 rainfall and temperature (functions of location 

 and altitude) and the number of animals kept 

 (causing variations in the number of flies). 



In lower and drier areas such as La Caiiada, 

 where different house types occur, information is 

 inadequate to make any useful comparison. 

 Masonry-adobe structures are probably less damp, 

 but flies are more numerous. In the Lake region, 

 there are also mosquitoes, apparently including 

 those of the Anopheles genus. Dr. D. F. Rubin 

 de la Borbolla tells us that m Tzintzutzan on Lake 

 P^tzciuiro he suspects the population to be 100 

 percent infected with malaria. The cause of this, 

 naturally, is only to a very slight extent related to 

 housing conditions, altliough screening of sleeping 

 quarters no doubt would somewhat lower the 

 chances of infection. 



HISTORY OF THE TARASCAN HOUSE 



In this section we try to determine the anticpiity 

 of modem house types. We do not include all 

 the data found in earl_v soiu-ccs referruig to pre- 

 Spanish houses and house uses, but base our 

 study of the history of the Tarascan house on 

 modern tradition and especially on the writings 

 of the 16th centurj-. Traditions appear to supply 

 usefid data concerning the last centmy or so. 

 The houses of stone and adobe are usually con- 

 sidered to be relatively recent introductions in 

 the Sierra region, but of older use in the Lake 

 area.* This view is supported by the relatively 

 greater frequency of stone and adobe in the towns 

 showing most Mestizo influence. In the Lake 

 region, it is remembered that wooden structm-es 

 once were more frequent. In La Caiiada, at 

 Chilchota, the lack of adequate streets is referred 

 to the older custom of building houses in the 

 center of the lot. 



Among the variant wooden-house types dis- 

 cussed, kitchens of poles and "trojes" and the 

 troja kosiiui of logs are regarded as the oldest 

 types. Tools, imtil recently were limited to the 

 ax, adze, clusel, and awl. Shakes were fastened 

 with wooden pins or stones. 



Beyond a centm-y, however, tradition is of no 

 value. The pre-Hispanic Tarascans and those of 

 a few generations ago are merged into "los ante- 

 pasados" and, unless an historically knovvm event 

 is referred to, it is difficult to know to what 

 period a tradition refers. So, even if data on 



' This section is almost entirely the work of Pedro Carrasco. 

 * In this connection, it should be recalled that the Sierra uses the Spanish 

 word ndobe, while in the Lake area a native word (iau^rukata) is known. 



houses of the anfepasados were given, they w^ould 

 be untrustworthy. 



Some of the data availal)le from the 16th 

 century refer to a wider area than that covered 

 by this study. These include the "Relaciones 

 geograficas" ^ of the 16th centmy and the diction- 

 ary of Gilberti.'" The "Relacion de Michoacan," 

 on the other hand, refers only to events occiu-ring 

 about Lake Pdtzcuaro." 



The "Relaciones geogrdficas," written about 1580, 

 refer almost entirely to houses with adobe walls 

 and straw roofs, adding that they often are small 

 and of little shelter. In the valley of the Rio 

 Balsas, houses of bajareque (poles or canes inter- 

 woven and plastered with clay) are described 

 but this type is not referred to in tierra Jria. 

 Sahagiin remarks: "Sus casas eran lindas, aunque 

 todas ellas de paja."'^ 



In Gilberti, reference is also made to adobe 

 (iauarukata), stone (tsintsicata), and wood ("tsir- 

 incata, hacer casas de caiia o j^alns"; "tsirindacata, 

 casa asi hecha"). In addition to "quahta, casa" 

 (today k'uta', in Augahuan), Gilberti gives "rasa 

 pajiza, quaqua, acarutaqua, acxcata." 



The plates of the "Relacion de Michoacan" show 

 that houses usually had a rectangular floor plan 

 or, perhaps, sometimes a round floor plan (fig. 19, 

 j, k; m is described in the text as a provisional 



8 Relaciones geograficas de Michoacan, unpublished. Copy in the Na- 

 tional Museum of Mexico. 



'» F. Maturino Gilberti. Vocahulario en lengua de Michoacan, M6.\ico, 

 1559. 



II Relacion de las ceremonias y ritos y poblacion y govemacion de los indios 

 de la provincia de Michoacan. Morelia, 1903. 



" Fr. Bernardino de SahagQn. Historia general de las cosas de Nueva 

 Espafia. T. 3, p. 135. Mexico, 1938. 



